Commuting out of Florida for new-hire Expressjet and Compass pilots

amorris311 said:
Don is right! Im willing to bet you are going to hold the coveted days of tues/wed off on reserve. The good thing is you can use the freight options as listed above. It's a two leg commute but it is a guaranteed seat. If you hold weekends off, by some miracle, then this is not going to be an option. Best of luck. Commuting sucks!
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I used FedEx almost exclusively for my commute from MEM-JFK for about 8 months. At first, it wasn't too bad. Then I started to realize I was exhausted all the time from having my sleep interrupted getting up in the middle of the night to commute up, going back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours until my show time, working for 2-4 days, then getting home around 1 am. The freight carriers are awesomre once in a while, but you'll eventually start to break down from sleep cycle disruption if it's a long term choice. Working for said freight carriers is different since you can get the sleep replaced during the day. Commuting on them, well, that's when you're working, so it's not too much of an option.

On reserve, you'll need a crashpad/hotel set up for sure, so factor that cost in as well. I don't know about XJT's schedule, but 9E's schedule in DTW is not very commuter friendly. Even the senior people wind up coming in the day before or leaving the day after a trip once or twice a month. From friends in town that do it, MCO-DTW is a complete headache. Not sure about FLL-DTW or MIA-DTW. MIA to anywhere is better now that we're finally on the unlimited jumpseat list with American, though.

If it's an option, move to base. Seriously. I lived in base for 5 years in MEM, then I was displaced to JFK. The commute from MEM-JFK was utter hell. I knew I was going to get a seat on FedEx, but it nearly killed me from exhaustion. I started trying to work in MEM-LGA flights and taking a cab over to JFK just to give my body a break. When I moved to MCO, the commute got a lot easier since there are tons of flights a day. Even with the ton of flights, I'm normally biting my nails to see if I get on or not. 95% of the time, I'm in the jumpseat. I'm looking forward to the day when 1) I'm out of Pinnacle and 2) I'm based at home again.
 
dutch_76 said:
I understand.

And I suppose I could forget all about MIA and PBI.
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That's the plus part, you have options, and a Tri-rail. I used to do PBI/FLL-EWR/JFK twice a week and there are lots of options to try. I am not familiar with either company first-hand, but does one have a commuting clause? It is tough but doable to commute this. Just be aware of all the hidden time and hidden cost commitments to do it. There's lots of unplanned money you have to throw into commuting, particularly to NYC.
 
dutch_76 said:
Are 'out-and-backs' frequent in regional airline trips, where one can leave his domicile and have the last flight of the evening return to the same domicile. Especially at ExpressJet and Compass...

....
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I don't know about Compass schedules but at XJT (unless things have changed in the last year or so since I left) I don't remember any day type trips or "out and backs." I was in the top 1/3 at ORD and *most* of the time I could commute home on the last day of my trip (because there was a 9pm AMR flight) but I usually had to go in the day before my trip started.....It's not completely unrealistic but it's not fun either, make sure you know what the company's commuter clause is.......
 
Xjt junior bases RIGHT NOW are Cleveland and Newark, the last class only got those bases but things change.
 
Oh okay, that does help.

Is there anyway I can see the UPS and Fedex routes and schedules online? I'm on passrider and I can't see them. I'm thinking it may be easier to commute out of SDF to either MSP, DTW, ORD, CLE or EWR.
 
dutch_76 said:
Are 'out-and-backs' frequent in regional airline trips, where one can leave his domicile and have the last flight of the evening return to the same domicile. Especially at ExpressJet ....
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Short Answer: NO
At XJT, the Vast majority of trips are 4-day trips. The very few lines with day trips go super senior to the guys who live in base.
In ORD, nearly all of our trips are 4-days.
 
I would go to XJET and be EWR based. Here is why...

1) You have Jetblue out of MCO/PBI/FLL to EWR. They are awesome for jumpseating. You might also have Southwest at this point (not sure of that)

2) You don't need to wear a hat at XJET.

3) Much better flexibility in XJETs work rules and reserve/build up than Compass

4) Congrats and have a wonderful day.
 
Seggy said:
2) You don't need to wear a hat at XJET.
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Point of interest, this is an invalid basis on which to decide where to work...
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FLL to JFK on Jetblue is really easy, esp if you work weekends. I would think FLL EWR isnt bad since they have 6 flights a day, about.
 
Commuting to reserve is terrible. I would rather have a rattle snake bite me in the face than to do that again. I lived in Melbourne FL for a few years. Commuted to ATL. You can expect to be home about 9 nights a month. That's it. You'll be commuting up on an off day (You will have 11 off days a month). Sit for 4-6 days and go home with just enough time to knock out all of your laundry then head back up. It's a rough life with a wife and in your case, a child. I would highly suggest not to do it. Good luck!
 
rickt86 said:
FLL to JFK on Jetblue is really easy, esp if you work weekends. I would think FLL EWR isnt bad since they have 6 flights a day, about.
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Just accept the fact you'll be up front a lot. It's the same out of MCO. Tons of flights, all of them normally full. Yeah, B6 doesn't oversell flights, but at least out of MCO (not sure about FLL) there are always tons of non-revs that are ahead of jumpseaters.

As for LGA out of Florida, a lot of those are on Delta. I hate nonrevving/jumpseating on Delta....and I have a better priority there than I do on jetBlue.
 
When I did JFK FLL on Jetblue, I was 50/50 in front or back, but I was never up front with someone else up front. I commuted up/back Sat/Tue, also I used AA twice out of MIA on the 7673 and had first going up and the jumpseat coming back both times, but the number 2 jumpseat was empty both times. This was in Sept/Oct of last fall, who knows if being bankrupt has changed that, with people playing musical chairs system wide AA and EGL.

I like FLL better because I could run to spirit for LGA, and a few others had options. This made meeting my commuter clause easy.
 
Mar-Sept is a different animal in Florida than last fall-winter. All the on-line non-revs along with the revenue standy-bys that missed earlier flights make it....interesting. :)
 
JustinA said:
Commuting to reserve is terrible. I would rather have a rattle snake bite me in the face than to do that again. I lived in Melbourne FL for a few years. Commuted to ATL. You can expect to be home about 9 nights a month. That's it. You'll be commuting up on an off day (You will have 11 off days a month). Sit for 4-6 days and go home with just enough time to knock out all of your laundry then head back up. It's a rough life with a wife and in your case, a child. I would highly suggest not to do it. Good luck!
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He speaketh the truth...but each situation is unique and must be considered independently.
 
Guys,

From anyone's experience, is it an easier commute out of MIA, FLL, PBI, RSW or MCO to any of the following:


BWI
BOS
IND
SDF
BDL
PHL
ORD
MDW
IAD

Finally, is it easy to get to MCO from MIA, FLL, PBI or RSW via commuting?

Thanks
 
I've gone from PHL-MCO a couple of times because I had a trip end in PHL. Haven't had a problem getting on either US Airways or Southwest. Like most airlines, though, it's probably harder in the summer than in the winter. Same with BOS, but there are more flights a day between MCO and BOS thanks to jetBlue. I'm betting I'll wind up BOS based sometime next year, and I'm okay with that. BWI, IND, SDF, BDL and MDW all have Southwest flights, but I don't know how many. Back when I was ramping at Southwest, there were about 4 MDW flights, a BWI flight about every hour and a half and maybe one or two for IND, SDF and BDL. They've beefed up the schedule a lot since then, though. ORD I wouldn't know. Never tried it.

If you're looking to get to MCO from RSW, I'd just drive it myself. Probably the same for MIA, FLL or PBI depending on how many times you had to do it. Your car never leaves you at the gate, it's never oversold and it's not gonna cancel due to weather. If I wound up based in FLL, I'd probably just drive it once or twice a week.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

In my situation, my best bet may be to commute to MSP. DTW or EWR via PHL, IAD, BOS, CLT, NYC or ORD. I understand that I may have some cancellations and may be bumped off a few flights, and I may be home 1-2 days per week at most.

Would any Compass/Expressjet guys help me with the following:

1.) Which is the more likely junior base for a Compass new-hire(MSP or DTW)?
2.) What is the schedule likely to throw at a new-hire on reserve? Would it be early callouts like 2AM, 3AM, late morning or afternoon report times?
3.) Does anyone else have any experience commuting with Fedex, UPS and other cargo carriers?
4.) Is a commute from (MIA, FLL, PBI, RSW, MCO) to DFW a difficult commute to get on?
5.) Is a commute from (DFW) to MSP, DTW or EWR a difficult commute to get on?
6.) Is a commute from (MIA, FLL, PBI, RSW, MCO) to CLT a difficult commute to get on?
7.) Is a commute from (CLT) to MSP, DTW or EWR a difficult commute to get on?

Thanks
 
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